A bugs world

Today a bunch of photographers went around the Richardson Nature Center, here in Bloomington, MN. It was organized by Jerry as part of the TCPG meetup group. I have been shying away from Macro photography, primarily because of my fear of bug 🙂 and also it needs a good eye to spot these little life forms. So when the opportunity presented itself (thanks TCPG ), I just grabbed it.

The group consisted of some serious photographers, some published, most of them with serious gear, and all of them very helpful and friendly. As we walked through the trails, the topics ranged from how to spot movements, to the gear useful for macro and great information about the bugs themselves. It was very insightful. I learnt that use of flash with a very low output even during day brings the details out on the bugs and puts them in focus. Got to meet a whole bunch of beetles, an orb spider, some dragonflies, a couple of butterflies, and a lot of bumble bees. Jerry showed us how to pet a bumble bee (without getting stung ), it was good to know. Although I left them alone. 🙂 We walked about for few hours taking pictures and towards the end had a few swallow tails and red admiral pose for us. The red admiral was a bit adventurous. After a few pose, it decided to come closer and landed on me and then picked a Canon camera/lens as its favorite. So all you Nikon users – the debate is settled. Nature prefers Canon. After the pictures were, most of them decided to get to Eddingtons for a well deserved hearty meal. And I got locked out of my car. But the home was just few minutes away, so no harm done.